1-1 Leisure

Though England has a lively cultural life, its characteristic pursuits are of a more popular kind. The exploitation of leisure is increasingly the concern of commerce: holiday camps, foreign holiday package tours, gambling of many kinds from bingo to horse-race betting, and the transformation of the traditional English pub by trendy interior decoration.

The English weekend is the occasion for countryside trips and for outdoor activities from fishing to mountaineering.

England gave to the world the sports of cricket, association football and rugby football, but team and spectator sports tend to be giving way to more individualistic activities.

Despite persistent commercial tempting to do something else, the English remain a stay-at-home people. Domestic comforts, epitomized in the cosy charm of cottages and gardens and the pervasive ritual of afternoon tea, continue to figure prominently in the character of English life.  

1-2-Summer Holidays

The beach is a traditional summer destination for thousands of people. Everyone wants to go to the beach! Sun, surf, and sand are a magnetic lure for millions of visitors. The wealth of things to do includes sunbathing, jogging, boating, fishing and surfing. Ever presented breezes keep the temperature comfortable and the water warn.

Beach cities are the centres for easygoing life styles. The newest trends in youth culture often originate there. For example, the roller-skating craze started on the Venice boardwalk.

Though sea, sun and sand are the same, people try to go to a different place every year, because fauna, and flora, and the air are different.

Spending holidays on the beach is a great rest though many people combine sunbathing with visiting museums and places of interest.

Questions:

1. What is traditional destination for summer holidays? 2. Why do people want to go to the beach? 3. What can people do at the beach? 4. What makes temperature? 5. What often originates in the beach cities? 6. Why do people go to a different places? Vocabulary:

beach — пляж surf — прибой sunbathing — прием солнечных ванн jogging — медленный бег, прогулки boating — лодочные прогулки breeze — бриз, легкий ветерок holidays — каникулы, отпуск

1-3-Summer Way of Spending Time

In my opinion there is a great number of different ways of spending summer holidays. It depends on person, on his culture, education, age, social level and personal tastes and preferences. So, everyone likes his own way of summertime spending.

It is a great pleasure to have a rest after a whole year of hard work or study. People like to travel during their summer holidays.

Some people go abroad to see new countries, some people prefer to go to the country-side to enjoy country-life far from noise and fuss of big cities. Other people like staying at home doing nothing, but watching TV and playing computer games.

Some people like to spend their holidays in cities, visiting theatres, museums and going sightseeing. But a great number of people go to the seaside.

As for me, I prefer to go on holiday to the seaside. I do not like crowds. My family and I always have our holiday on the coast. Sea and sunbathes, that is what we look forward to every summer. Hotels at the large seaside towns are rather expensive, so we usually go camping.

Last year we spent our holidays in a camp. Each day was full of small joys. We swam in the sea, lay in the sun, played different games and had a wonderful time. We lived there for about a month. The time passed very quickly. It was a wonderful holiday.

Questions:

1. Is it a great pleasure to have a rest after a whole year of hard work or study? 2. Do people dislike traveling during their summer holidays? 3. How do other people prefer to spend their summer holidays? 4. How do you prefer to spend your summer holidays? Vocabulary:

in my opinion — по моему мнению, по-моему to depend on — зависеть от social level — социальное положение, уровень preferences — предпочтения summertime spending — летнее времяпрепровождение pleasure — удовольствие to go (past went, p«p. gone) abroad — уезжать за границу to go (past went, p.p. gone) to the country-side— уезжать за город to enjoy — наслаждаться noise — шум fuss — суета sightseeing — осмотр достопримечательностей as for me — что касается меня coast — побережье sunbathes — солнечные ванны, загорание под солнцем crowd — толпа, столпотворение to look forward — стремиться expensive — дорогой

2-1 Choosing a Career

Sooner or later all of us face the problem of choosing a career when we are to decide what we are going to be in future. Choosing a career is not a simple matter — in fact, it can be one of the most important in our life. You don't need to hurry making a decision. You should examine thoroughly your abilities and character, take a realistic view of your strengths and weaknesses, pay attention to your parents' and friends' advice and take into account your own preferences. The last point in the list is particularly important because there are many examples when people make great mistakes choosing their future profession. Sometimes they either simply follow in the footsteps of their parents or relatives or just blindly follow their advice. Your choice should be mostly based on your own opinion. Family traditions are good, but your turn of mind may be quite different. So, never base only on other people's opinion.

Having thought carefully about what sort of person you are, try to work out a list of your occupation requirements.

Nowadays there is a great variety of jobs to any taste. Choosing a future career, we should consider the following things.

• Pay. Is the size of your salary important? Generally speaking, it is important. Of course there may be various situations, but if you are going to be independent, successful and wealthy, you have to find a well-paid job. Moreover, if you are going to have a family, you should be ready to support it, to be a breadwinner. Naturally, you'd like to live in good conditions, and your children to study at good schools, and then to enter prestigious universities, to travel all around the world and so on. Now you understand why you should take money into consideration when choosing a job.

• Further training, promotion prospects and job conditions should also be kept in mind. Just after graduating it is very difficult to find a plum job which will respond to all your preferences. It is usually a monotonous, tedious clerical job, but if you are a capable and hard-working person, you will certainly be offered an opportunity to climb the ladder.

• Place of work. You ought to decide whether you want to work indoors (cashier, chemist, librarian, secretary, etc.) or outdoors (driver, firefighter, estate agent, etc.). Your choice may be based on your lifestyle or health condition.

• Full-time, part-time, flexitime jobs. There is no set pattern to part-time working. It may involve a later start and earlier finish time than a full-time position, working mornings or afternoons only, fewer working days in a week for less salary. It is a perfect variant for students who want to juggle their studies and work, as well as flexitime jobs. Employees decide by themselves when to begin and end their working day.

• Communication with different people. Meeting and dealing with people doesn't appeal to every person. Some people are not very sociable; on the contrary, they are timid, shy and diffident. Frankly speaking, it is a great talent to have communication skills. If you think you have it, you may choose a profession involving close contacts with people, such as a doctor, a journalist, a lawyer, a guide, a teacher.

• Business trips. You should keep in mind that some professions imply travelling all over the world, such as tour guides, scientists, actors, journalists, pilots and so on. It's not always fun. Business trips may last a week, a month and even more. You may be sent to London for a few days, then you'll spend only a few hours in Paris, and right after that, without any rest, you'll have to go to Berlin. Sometimes it turns out that you don't have even an hour for yourself just to relax and see the town you've come to. Such trips may be very exhausting and stressful. However, if you are young, ambitious and full of energy, you will be able not only to do your job successfully but also see the world.

• Aspiration for creative work. If you are a creative person, it's a must for you to find such job. It can be a job of an artist, a tailor, a designer or a stylist.

• Jobs connected with risk. Such jobs are usually well-paid, but very dangerous. A police officer, a fireman, a bodyguard, a lifeguard — these are the names of jobs which imply risk. Those, who want a rewarding but demanding job and who are ready to devote all their lives to it, may choose this kind of work.

Analyzing all these points will help you not to make a wrong choice.

In case you are an aspiring, responsible, creative, optimistic, reliable person, who is ready to learn and be laborious, who is not afraid of any difficulties of the future and ready to solve any problem with a smile, the world of jobs and careers will be open to you.

Choosing a career should not only be a matter of future prestige and wealth. Work should bring real satisfaction; otherwise your whole life will become dull and monotonous.

Choosing a career is extremely difficult. What can help you make the right choice?

Every person at the age of 14 to 16 has to make an extremely stressful decision, to choose his or her own career. You might be wondering what the difference is between a career and a job. Basically a job is something you do, but don't expect to continue doing forever. A career is what you hope to do for a long time or even for your entire working life. Choosing a career is a difficult and challenging task: the decision once taken will influence your future life. There are, of course, a lot of examples when people have changed their career paths in their twenties, thirties and even forties but, of course, it is better to make the right choice at the very beginning. The earlier you decide on what profession is interesting and rewarding for you, the more you can achieve during your lifetime.

Choosing a career is a challenging task indeed. It is all about finding the perfect match between your personality, interests, and skills. On the one hand, modern society, with its hundreds of professions and jobs, presents a vast range of future job opportunities. Industry and business, farming, science and education, medicine, service, arts and journalism are just a few professional fields a young person can specialize in. On the other hand, modern society with its crises, unemployment and inflation, makes a poor choice of profession a really bad mistake. You can choose a profession you really like, and face problems when looking for a job. Or you can find a job you like, but it will be underpaid. Besides, a young person's parents usually have their own ideas of what career path to choose. Some parents are more democratic and let the child determine his future by himself. Some are oppressive and overprotective and try to force the child to make this or that career choice. In this case, they often try to compensate for their own dreams which have failed and the chances they have missed. Sometimes they see their child is gifted in some field and try to persuade him to choose this profession irrespective of the fact if he likes it or not.

In spite of all the problems mentioned above, the choice has to be made. To make it easier for the young people, there is some professional advice. It's best for the young man to start this process as early as possible, ideally in the tenth form. You should determine if you would like to continue in higher education, or to learn a trade and look for a job. It's up to the person to decide, but you should remember that to get more chances, you should strive for higher education which enables you to be qualified for skilled labour. You should determine what you might like to study or major in at college. You might like to try some of these career assessment tests to help with this step. You will surely also get suggestions from family, friends, and high school teachers and guidance counsellors. You also have to consider the demand for a particular career in the labour market. Choosing a career where there are limited job opportunities can greatly increase the challenges you will face.

Translate the following sentences into English. 1. Выбрать будущую профессию значит принять чрезвычайно трудное решение. 2. Выбор карьеры — это трудная и требующая напряжения задача, которая состоит в том, чтобы найти дело, идеально соответствующее вашему характеру, интересам и навыкам. 3. Современное общество предоставляет широкий выбор возможностей будущей работы в различных профессиональных областях, однако кризисы, безработица и инфляция делают выбор действительно трудным. 4. Интересная работа может быть плохо оплачиваемой или предоставлять мало возможностей для роста. 5. Некоторые родители разрешают своим детям самим определять свое будущее, другие деспотичны и слишком опекают своих детей. 6. Некоторые родители пытаются заставить своего ребенка выбрать ту или иную профессию, тем самым пытаясь реализовать свои несбывшиеся мечты. 7. Вам следует определить, хотите ли вы продолжить образование в вузе, что дает возможность получить подготовку для квалифицированного труда. 8. Чтобы выбрать профессию, можно попробовать пройти несколько тестов на профориентацию и послушать советы учителей и консультантов по профориентации. 9. Выбрать профессию, с которой трудно найти работу, значит создать для себя дополнительные трудности.

Questions:

1. Have you already thought about your future career? What makes the profession chosen so attractive for you? 2. Do your parents give you a piece of advice about your future profession? 3. What are your parents? 4. Have you got any traditions in your family? (connected with jobs) 5. Try to take a realistic view of your strengths and weaknesses. Which of your qualities are worth improving? 6. What part-time jobs can students do nowadays? 7 What occupations are popular nowadays in your country? Why? 8. Imagine that you are a successful businessman (businesswoman). Describe your life: your living conditions, some usual activities and so on. 9. What is the best way of preparing for your future profession? 10. Is it easy to choose a career? 11. Do you agree with the quotation: "It doesn't matter what job you do. It's how you do it"?

Vocabulary: choosing a career — выбор профессии matter — вопрос, дело to examine — изучать thoroughly — тщательно ability — способность strength — сильная сторона weakness — слабая сторона to take into account — принимать во внимание preference — предпочтение particularly — особенно to follow in the footsteps of — идти по стопам blindly — слепо to base on — основываться на opinion — мнение turn of mind — склад ума to work out — разрабатывать occupation requirements — требования к профессии variety — разнообразие pay — зарплата, жалованье salary — зарплата generally speaking — вообще говоря independent — независимый successful — успешный wealthy — состоятельный well-paid — хорошо оплачиваемый

to support a family — содержать семью breadwinner — кормилец condition — условие to enter — поступать prestigious — престижный further training — дальнейшее обучение promotion prospects — перспективы на повышение to graduate — окончить (университет) plum job — «тёплое местечко» (несложная работа с хорошим заработком) to respond — отвечать, соответствовать monotonous — монотонный tedious — нудный, скучный, утомительный clerical job — офисная работа capable — способный hard-working — трудолюбивый

to climb the ladder — делать карьеру firefighter — пожарный estate agent — агент по недвижимости full-time job — работа на полную ставку, предполагающая полную занятость part-time job — работа на полставки, предполагающая неполную занятость flexitime job — работа со скользящим графиком set — установленный, неизменный pattern — график, расписание involve — включать, содержать to juggle — совмещать employee — служащий, работник to appeal — привлекать, нравиться sociable — общительный on the contrary — напротив, наоборот timid — робкий, застенчивый diffident — неуверенный в себе frankly speaking — откровенно говоря communication skill — навык общения business trip — командировка to imply — подразумевать to turn out — оказываться exhausting — изнуряющий, изматывающий, утомительный stressful — напряжённый ambitious — целеустремлённый, честолюбивый creative — творческий tailor — портной well-paid — хорошо оплачиваемый bodyguard — телохранитель lifeguard — спасатель rewarding — полезный, стоящий demanding — требующий много усилий или времени to devote — посвящать aspiring — устремлённый, честолюбивый reliable — надёжный laborious — трудолюбивый, старательный to be a matter of future prestige and wealth — быть вопросом будущего престижа и благополучия

2-2-My Future Profession

Finishing school is the beginning of the independent life for millions of school leavers. Many roads are opened before them: vocational and technical schools, institutes and universities. But it is not an easy thing to choose a profession out of more than 2,000 existing in the world. Some pupils follow the advice of their parents, others can't decide even after leaving school.

As for me, I made my choice long ago. I want to become a teacher of the Ukrainian language and literature. My choice of this occupation didn't come as a sudden flash. During all school years literature was my favourite subject. I've read a lot of books by Ukrainian and foreign writers. I understand that reading books helps people in self education and in solving different life problems.

I would like to teach my pupils to enjoy reading, to encourage them to learn our national language and literature, which is the source of national culture. It is known that teaching is a very specific and difficult job. It shouldn't be taken easily. The teacher is a person who is learning as well as teaching all his life.

Most jobs can be done within the usual office hours from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m., but teacher's work is never done and evenings are usually spent in marking exercise-books and preparing for the next lesson.

Teachers do not only teach their subjects. They develop their pupils' intellect, form their views and characters, their attitudes to life and to other people. It's a great responsibility and the teacher must be a model of competence himself.

It's not as easy as it may seem at first. But I think that love for children combined with the knowledge I'll get at the University would be quite enough to succeed in my work.

I'm applying to the philological department and I am sure my dream will come true sooner or later.  

Vocabulary:

1. What roads are opened before school leavers? 2. Is it an easy thing to choose a profession out of more than 2,000 existing in the world? 3. What does reading books help in? 4. Why is teaching a very specific and difficult job? 5. What would be enough to succeed in your work? Vocabulary: independent — независимый school leaver — выпускник to exist — существовать to follow the advice — следовать совету to make a choice — делать выбор sudden flash — неожиданная вспышка source — источник office hours — "присутственные часы"

3-1-My Favourite English Writer

It's said that none of the British writers of our age enjoyed such popularity all over the world as Agatha Christie did. Her works were translated into many languages, and scores of films were made using them as the script.

The name of Agatha Christie is a synonym for high-class detective story, as well as Pele is a symbol of football, and Marilyn Monroe is an embodiment of femininity. According to Agatha Christie herself, she began to write just to imitate her sister whose stories had already been published in magazines.

And suddenly Agatha Christie became famous as if by miracle. Having lost her father at an early age, the prospective writer didn't receive even fairly good education. During the First World War she was a nurse, then she studied pharmacology. Twenty years later she worked in a military hospital at the beginning of the Second World War.

The favourite personages of the "queen of detective story" are the detective Hercules Poirot and the sedate Miss Marple who carry out investigations in noisy London and delusive quiet countryside. The composition of her stories is very simple: a comparatively closed space with a limited number of characters, who are often plane or train passengers, tourists, hotel guests or residents of a cosy old village.

Everyone is suspected! Murders in the books of Agatha Christie are committed in most unsuitable places: in the vicar's garden or in an old abbey; corpses are found in someone's libraries being murdered with the help of tropical fishes, a poker, candelabra, a dagger or poison. Once Agatha Christie wrote: "Some ten years will pass after my death, and nobody will even remember me...". The writer was mistaken.

Agatha Christie's novels are very popular now. People of all continents read and reread "The Oriental Express", "Ten Little Negroes", "The Bertram Hotel", "The Corpse in the library" and other of her novels time and again, enjoy films made by her works, and one can hardly find a country where people do not know her name.  

Questions:

1. Why did Agatha Christie begin to write? 2. The prospective writer didn't receive education, did she? 3. What are the favourite personages of Agatha Christie? 4. Is the composition of Agatha Christie stories simple? 5. Name the best of her published works.

Vocabulary:

scores of films — десятки фильмов embodiment — воплощение femininity — женственность prospective — будущий investigation — расследование delusive — обманчивый vicar — аптекарь corpse — труп poker -- кочерга candelabra — канделябр

3-2-My Favourite Writer (M. Lermontov)

One of Russia's most celebrated poets of all times, Michael Lermontov was born in Moscow in the family of a nobleman. He spent his childhood and youth in Tarckany, in the province of Penza.

In 1830 Lermontov entered the Moscow University, but very soon he had to leave it. Then he entered St. Petersburg School of Cavalry Cadets. He finished it and served in the Hussar Regiment of the Imperial Guard.

In 1837 the poet was exiled to the Caucasus for his poem "Poets Death". In 1840 Lermontov was exiled to the Caucasus for the second time. He was provoked into personal quarrel with his schoolmate. The quarrel led to a duel. On July 15th, 1841 the poet was killed. He was not even 27 at that time.

Lermontov began writing when he was very young. One of his first writings to be published was his verse tale "Hadji Arbek".

But he won fame as a poet after his poem "Poets Death" was published. Lermontov's poems "Demon" "Mtsyri" his great novel "A Hero of Our Time" and his play "Masquerade" are masterpieces of Russian literature.

Whether he wrote poetry, drama or prose, the stamp of his genius was to be found on his works. Lermontov's influence as of a poet and a thinker on all Russian writes can't be overestimated.  

3-3-My Favourite Writer (A. Marinina)

Reading is one of my hobbies, and that's why I try to use every spare minute to read. I like different kinds of literature.

I like Russian and foreign, classic and modern literature. I usually read different books: love stories, detective stories or historical novels.

I want to tell you about my favourite writer, it is Alexandra Marinina. She is considered to be a Russian Queen of detective prose. The works of this author are really interesting.

In all books there are the same characters and starting a new book you meet old friends. The author used to work as an investigator and she knows how to arouse the readers interest and at the same time writes the facts that could take place.

Many detective novels by Marinina are translated into foreign languages and foreign readers can compare our writer with Agatha Christie. When I got acquainted with these books I was greatly impressed by the wit and humour.

The main character, a slender and weak woman, doesn't need to fight with the criminals using judo or something like that. She is very clever and intelligent. Her brain works as a good computer.

All the actions and characters are described so vividly that I had a feeling of our possible meeting when I visited Moscow last summer. Unfortunately I don't have complete works by Marinina, it's impossible, she's still writing. But I always recommend my friends to read these books.  

3-4-My Favourite Writer (I. Turgenev)

I'm fond of reading. Usually I borrow books from the library, but I have a lot of them at home, too. I like to read books about famous people and detective stories. Literature means much in my life. It helps to form the character and to understand life better.

There are some names in Russian and Foreign literature that are very dear to me.

In Russian literature I highly appreciate Ivan Sergiyovych Turgenev. For me he is a real intellectual and aristocrat, a man of culture, devoted to literature, music and art. Though he lived abroad for a long time he didn't stop to be a Russian writer-for a moment. He created a number of national characters in his books. The image of Turgenev s woman, deeply feeling, faithful and tender is an ideal of a Russian woman for me. It doesn't lose its charm even today.

Of the present day writers and poets I like Eugenij Evtushenko, Valentin Rasputin, Valentin Pikul, Boris Vasyljev. Their works are very human and realistic. They assert high moral principles in life.

And this is very important nowadays. My favourite writer is O'Henry, too. In my childhood I was deeply impressed by his story "The Last Leaf". Since then I bear in my heart the image of a young girl suffering from the incurable illness, and her friends doing all they can to give her hope and bring back to life.  

4-1-The Weather in England (1)

The English say «Other countries have a climate, in England we have weather*. It happens because the weather changes more often than in other countries. British winters are mild and springs are cool because of the winds that blow from the Atlantic Ocean. They blow 2 days out of every 3.

In spring sunshine and showers follow each other so often during the day that an umbrella or a raincoat is absolutely necessary in England. The weather changes so frequently that it is difficult to forecast. It is not unusual for people to complain that the weathermen were wrong.

The weather in spring is generally mild but sometimes the days are really fresh. Spring is the season when nature awakens from its long winter sleep: the temperature grows, the sky becomes blue, and the sun grows warmer. Everything is full of new life again. The days grow longer and warmer; the ground gets covered with green grass.

Summer is the hottest season in England. The sunrays become hot, the days are long, and the nights are short and warm. It's time for holidays, when people go to the seaside for sunbathing and swimming. It usually gets hot in July. The summer nights are short, but they are wonderful.

As for autumn it isn't so nice. It's a season of winds and beautiful sunsets. The leaves turn yellow and reddish and fall to the ground and the birds migrate to warm countries. In autumn the days become shorter. A spell of sunny weather in September is called Indian summer or «Golden Autumn». In England September and October are warm and dry, but November is the foggiest month. Late autumn is generally an unpleasant season. Everything begins to take a different colour. The trees look bare. The flowers have faded away. The sky is overcast with low clouds. Everything looks gloomy.

In winter in England they can hardly forecast their weather. Sometimes it rains and sometimes it snows. In England it isn't so cold in winter as in our country and they don't get so much snow as we get here in Ukraine. The rivers in England never freeze, that's why children there go skating very seldom. When there are 8 degrees of frost in England everyone complains of hazards.  

Questions:

1. What do the English say about their weather? 2. What winters and springs do the English have? 3. Are umbrella and raincoat absolutely unnecessary things in England? 4. What is the hottest season in England? 5. What people do in summer? 6. What happens in autumn? 7. What weather do the English have in winter? 8. Is it as cold in England as in our country?